A journey into Parenthood & dealing with loss

Archive for December, 2013

We had our 16 week scan with Dr P and baby has consistently measured 6 days ahead of my LMP, so we will now work on the new dates.

Baby is the size of an avocado. Perhaps tonight calls for guacamole?

How far along are you? New dates I am 16w3d. Revised due date is 24 May 2014

What’s happening with the baby? Baby was in a ball with feet over head, so we didn’t get many good pics. Heather, the awesome sonographer, measured head circumference, waist circumference and femur length, and all of those were measuring about the same gestation. She said baby was “very good”. Baby’s eyes can now detect light, baby shows purposeful movement such as thumb sucking and is now “breathing” the amniotic fluid. Heather was happy with the fluid around baby and the state and location of my placenta. So everything is looking good.

What’s happening with my body? I am starting to show a bit. Clothes are getting tight. Hubby and close friends can see a bump, but not many others yet. My nipples are itchy and definitely getting darker and larger. Sleep is still elusive! I fall sound asleep fairly early in the evenings, but I am awake early and very fidgety. This bugs B!

Moments since the last post? It’s been an eventful week and a bit. Last week our country, and the world, lost Nelson Mandela. This has made for a very introspective time in SA. It was not a shock to me, nor was reading about the theories as to why it was announced when it was. Today is his memorial service in Johannesburg and reading about the service has been interesting. I believe that Madiba was an amazing man who brought about peaceful change in our country and was an incredibly significant man. It is amazing for me to have lived through his legacy in South Africa.

On Friday afternoon we discovered that our baby cat had been hit by a car sometime during the day. Tapioca was my baby and was the most affectionate cat I have ever had. He will be sorely missed in our household. Our domestic worker was so sad about it when I told her yesterday that she couldn’t work. He just had a way of going straight to anyone’s heart strings. This is my beautiful boy:

Tapioca 2 months old

Tapioca Mommy’s Boy

We have had good moments this week though! We put up the last of our Christmas Decorations and I started wrapping presents for family and friends. I have also started to put together my Christmas box of goodies that I am sending my parents who are in Canada. I love Christmas and have really been enjoying all the Christmas music I want in our rental car, as it has a bluetooth radio and can play from my iPhone.

Miss anything? Like Miss Rain said – I miss being able to take good drugs for pain. I’ve had a horrible spasm in my lower back that the chiro can’t work on because of the pregnancy. And I know two decent pills would help it release, but I can’t take them. Instead I do my best to stretch it out. I also miss not being the designated driver at EVERY function lately. And there are lots at this time of the year!

Movement? Nothing for certain yet, Dr P says we could have a Christmas present and feel something for sure around then. Either way we should be feeling it soon. It’s been a tough couple of weeks since my nausea abated, and I haven’t really had any other concrete symptoms. It was a huge relief to see baby’s heartbeat this morning.

Any weird Food issues? I have a thing at the moment for take away chips – particularly from KFC and Steers. Both have these flavoured salts on them which I just love right now. And still loads of fruit. I ate a whole punnet of grapes for lunch today.

Gender? We aren’t going to find out, but the general consensus seems to be a boy. I haven’t got any of the obvious signs though – no linea nigera, or other body symptoms. We haven’t done any of the old wives methods yet either.

Looking forward to? Christmas – Our last one just the two of us. We aren’t seeing any family on the day except my sister possibly, for the first time since we’ve been dating! It’s going to be nice to just be the two of us and very relaxed. This weekend we are going to Joburg for B’s Mom’s 71st birthday celebrations. B and I splurged and booked a B&B rather than stay with friends again and I am really looking forward to that. This is where we are staying, in the black and gold Room 3. I’m not looking forward to the drive though.

According to my apps, baby is the size of a lemon or a kiwi – in South Africa these usually aren’t even close in size.

How far along are you? Today I am 14 weeks and 2 days post LMP. My doctor though says I am 15 weeks and 1 day. And I’m officially in my second trimester!

What’s happening with the baby? Baby is now making simple facial gestures. Baby’s head is a little more in proportion with its body.

Total weight gain? My weight is still hovering around the same – little up, little down each week. I am starting to notice that my clothes are getting tighter around my middle even if my weight isn’t changing much.

Maternity clothes? I bought a pair of ballerina preggy pants. They are super comfy, but a bit of an awkward length ‘cos I’m so tall, so they’re too long to be capri pants, and too short to be full length. I also can’t really wear them yet as they don’t stay up.

Stretch marks? Nothing new

Sleep? This pregnancy has turned me back into a morning person. I used to be able to sleep late, or wake up to pee and go back to sleep. Now I am wide awake between 430am and 530am every morning even though our alarms only go off at about 7am. I’ve decided to stop fighting it and just read or something when I wake up.

Best moment this week? Well it’s been two weeks. They’ve been pretty uneventful. Hubby and I put up all our Christmas decorations and that was really good. Also today we bought our cot. I got an email to say one of the stores we like was having a sale and we got the cot with a good discount. It’s about half the price of the other ones we had looked at. Oh and my therapist said that I’m doing so well that I really only need to check in with her once a month now!

Here are some pics of our decorations and our collections of trees. The last one is the little Christmas tree I have had since my first Christmas.

Miss anything? Sleeping late! Feeling comfortable – it’s kind of a general uncomfortable-ness that’s happening in my abdomen. And I miss having the first trimester symptoms – I know that’s weird, but they were reassuring. Now I kind of don’t have anything except that I’m a bit uncomfortable most of the time.

Movement? I think I felt a flutter just over a week ago, but nothing since then, so now I’m doubting myself.

Anything make you queasy or sick? Nothing really. On Wednesday a week ago, I was in the shower and realised I was just hungry! I haven’t had any nausea since.

Gender? Everyone is saying it’s a boy. My therapist and my sister have been vocal about it. We are just happy with a healthy baby.

Symptoms? Waking up early, frequent peeing still and a general uncomfortableness – No more nausea, nothing much else really.

Belly button in or out? No change.

Wedding/Engagement Rings on or off? All still on.

Looking forward to? Posting our Facebook announcement sometime this week; Our appointment with Dr P on the 10th; The festive season being here in force! B and I are Christmas mad! We just love it!!

Since my last post we got the results on our NT Scan and 1st trimester blood work. The chance of Down’s Syndrome is very low, so we won’t be taking any more tests for that. Yesterday I went for additional blood work and I should get those test results in the next few days. So everything is looking very positive so far. Even as I type that I have a little worry that all the symptoms have pretty much gone and I really wish I could somehow know that baby was all ok. I spend quite some time talking to baby and telling it to give me a sign that everything is ok – a flutter or something, but nothing as yet. I know it’s still early though.